STUDENTS’ FAVOURITE ERRORS

Margins, indentation and general appearance - Leave similar margins. Centre your writing on the paper. Care for handwriting and general appearance. Divide paragraphs clearly and balance them.

NOT FOLLOWING A PLAN Have clear you must write 4 paragraphs and what you must do in each one. 1st: Introduce the topic and state your opinion very briefly. Don’t start with “I think” !! 2nd: Some reasons for your opinions and examples. 3rd: Some reasons for your opinions and examples. = more than one reason, more than one argument. 4th:Present your conclusion and summarize your argument.

Vague conclusion and lack of coherence Good general content but the conclusion does not close as it should. It does not summarize your arguments. Introduction and conclusion are not related = lack of coherence. - Never introduce a new idea in your conclusion.

Lack of connectors and punctuation Do not write very long sentences . You must write short sentences and link them with connectors. Show that you know a range of expressions to give opinions, sequence your ideas, conclude, contrast, give reasons, results…

Pairs of connectors One cannot live without the other one. Firstly / Secondly On the one hand / on the other First of all / to continue / secondly/ moreover

Writing as it comes to your mind - Stop, order your ideas, write a draft first. Remember that every sentence must have its subject and its verb. Be careful with literal translation. If you write as it comes to your mind, qou will probably use very long sentences instead of shorter ones linked with connectors.

Extension 130 – 150 words. Count the words. Some writings are very short!!

Contractions I’m, it’s, don’t , doesn’t…. = USE FULL FORMS!!! Spelling Extremly = extremely Fortunatly = fortunately cuestion= question dayly= daily Articles The robots, the people… = Do not write the article “the” when we talk about something in general. A / an + plural

Word order - Every positive sentence in English follows the order: subject + verb. Examples: Every time is bigger the use of new technologies = Every time the use of new technologies is bigger. A few years ago did not exist machines like these = A few year ago machines like these did not exist. You are making a serious mistake if you forget this rule and translate literally. Due to Due to must be followed by a noun. For instance: Due to the influence of new technologies… Error: Due to they are still in development = Due to the fact that they are still in development